Want to learn more about our academic degree programs? Take a look at our Master of Divinity, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Ministry programs. Plus, learn about our unique Training & Mentoring program.

This Student Life section is the one-stop shop for students to get connected to activities that will feed your spiritual and social life as well as equip you with resources to jump-start your academic career.

Being a part of our Denver Seminary community is about connection. Whether you are an alumni, donor, or friend of the Seminary, we want to stay in touch and hope you'll take part in our programs and events.

Denver Seminary has a wealth of resources that are available to current students, alumni, and the local community. Here you will find access to the Denver Journal, Engage Magazine, and the various initiatives organized by the Seminary.

Want to learn more about our academic degree programs? Take a look at our Master of Divinity, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Ministry programs. Plus, learn about our unique Training & Mentoring program.

This Student Life section is the one-stop shop for students to get connected to activities that will feed your spiritual and social life as well as equip you with resources to jump-start your academic career.

Being a part of our Denver Seminary community is about connection. Whether you are an alumni, donor, or friend of the Seminary, we want to stay in touch and hope you'll take part in our programs and events.

Denver Seminary has a wealth of resources that are available to current students, alumni, and the local community. Here you will find access to the Denver Journal, Engage Magazine, and the various initiatives organized by the Seminary.

Passion Week

For many Christians, the week leading up to Easter Sunday is called Passion Week or Holy Week. These seven days have been described as “the most important week of the most important person who ever lived.”[1] One could just as easily add that this is the most important week of the year for Christians, because in it we remember the most important event in all of human history—the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Our prayer is that the six daily devotional readings that we have written will help prepare your heart for a glorious celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Join us beginning Sunday, March 29 - Friday, April 3 as we post new devotionals each day.

Tuesday, March 31 - Jesus Shows us How to Glorify the Father

Reading: John 12:20-33

In today’s passage, John describes how the Father’s name was glorified by the perfect obedience of the Son throughout His life, but even more so by His obedience unto death, even death on a cross.

If one wants to see the real Jesus, we must look at Him, as He said in this passage, as lifted up on the cross. There we see the essence of His mission and the climax of the revelation of the glory of the Father’s name. On the cross, Jesus finished the work of love He was given to do by the Father: His death, for our life. As followers of Jesus, and those who benefit eternally from His death, we too are called to be with Him in sacrificially living out His love for others. In this we too bring glory to the Father. The beautiful paradox is that in our little dyings, we experience the abundant life that Jesus promises.

Reflect today on ways you can follow Jesus’ example to live sacrificially for the glory of the Father’s name.

Monday, March 30 - Jesus Does the Unexpected

Reading: Matthew 21:12-27

When Jesus overturns the tables of the moneychangers and merchants preying on those who had come to offer sacrifices in the Temple, we see Him doing something that catches us off guard. Typically, in the Gospels, we see Jesus as meek, compassionate, and engaged in the lives of those who have needs. But here, we see Him acting almost violently and aggressively against those who are turning His house into a “den of robbers.”

Jesus quotes a phrase from Isaiah 56:7 as a rationale for his actions, saying “my house is a house of prayer.” That’s where the quote stops in the text of Matthew’s Gospel. However, the text of Isaiah 56:7 goes a step further. It reads, “my house is a house of prayer for all people.” Under the authority of the temple leadership, these moneychangers and merchants had set up their business in the Court of the Gentiles on the grounds of the temple. In doing so, they were prohibiting Gentiles from coming to worship God. Cleaning out the temple in this way proclaimed that it is His house, a place where He is being worshipped, and a place where all nations, Jews and Gentiles, may come to worship God together.

This unexpected and jarring action radically challenged the authority of the Jewish leaders and their belief that the Messiah came to bless only them. Jesus makes it clear that He has come to bring salvation to all nations just as the prophet Isaiah foresaw many years earlier.

Let’s reflect today on what expectations we may have of Jesus that do not fit with the reality of who He actually is.

Sunday, March 29 - Jesus Redefines Triumph

Reading: Matthew 21:1-11

As Jesus enters Jerusalem on the Sunday before the crucifixion, His messianic identity is confirmed twice through fulfilled prophecy. The first time was by Jesus Himself, when He asked for a colt to ride into Jerusalem as prophesied in Zechariah 9:9, “… Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” By doing this, He confirmed that He is indeed the divine king – the Messiah—whose mission it was to bring salvation. The second confirmation was by the crowds that welcomed Him with the prophetic words of Psalm 118:26, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Many Christians call this day “Palm Sunday,” because of the palm branches that were spread before Jesus as He came riding into the city. Some refer to this event as the “Triumphal Entry.” There is some irony in calling this passage a triumphal entry because while there was triumph, it was not the kind that people were expecting. Jesus triumphed over sin and death as our Savior, but not over the Romans as a conquering king. To witness conquering in that way, we await Jesus’ Second Coming.

As we begin our Passion Week devotionals, we would do well to reflect upon our own expectations of Jesus’ saving work in our lives and what it means to wait on that day when He returns in ultimate triumph.

[1] Andreas J. Kostenberger & Justin Taylor with Alexander Stewart, The Final Days of Jesus.